Northern Ireland: Electoral Registration

Baroness Amos: My honourable friend the Minister of State for Northern Ireland has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	In the Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, the Government introduced a range of reforms to electoral law in Northern Ireland. These measures were aimed at addressing widespread concern that the electoral process was vulnerable to fraud. In respect of electoral registration, the Act introduced individual registration in place of the household-based system, together with a new series of personal identifiers to enable checking of the register for inaccurate or fraudulent entries. In addition, the life of the register was limited to one year, with all individuals required to register during an annual canvass each autumn. The annual canvass had previously been supplemented by a system of rolling registration, allowing individuals to register at other points during the year, with updated registers published monthly and this continued.
	The Government are satisfied that these measures have been extremely successful in substantially improving the accuracy of the electoral register in Northern Ireland. The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland has undertaken a substantial programme of work to make the changes a success. As a result, there are now comprehensive systems in place to check and maintain the integrity of the register.
	However, there are concerns across the political spectrum that the requirement on voters to re-register and provide their personal identifiers afresh each year is leading to a downward drift in the overall numbers registered. The Chief Electoral Officer and I share those concerns. The register published on 1 February 2004 following the 2003 annual canvass showed that 1,069,160 people, or approximately 87 per cent of the eligible population in Northern Ireland, were registered to vote.
	The Government are determined to ensure that as many people as possible both secure and use their right to vote. Our goal is an electoral register that is both as accurate and as comprehensive as possible. In the light of that, I can announce today that the Government are committed to moving away from the legal requirement for the register to be completely refreshed each year. This will reduce the burden on the individual citizen. And it will allow resources to be redirected towards targeting those groups where rates of registration are low.
	However, the Government are absolutely clear that any reform must also preserve the very high level of accuracy delivered as a result of the 2002 Act. So we will be actively considering what additional security or checking measures might need to be put in place to ensure that this remains the case, to ensure that accuracy can go hand in hand with rising levels of registration.
	I have discussed options with the Chief Electoral Officer and begun consultation with the Northern Ireland political parties on a number of ideas. In due course I will also be consulting the Electoral Commission. Any changes will require primary legislation. The Government are committed to introducing legislation once consultation is complete and parliamentary time allows, and in line with the need to ensure an orderly transition to the new system.
	In the mean time, a number of steps have been taken to encourage registration at this year's annual canvass, which closed on 17 November. The Chief Electoral Officer has ensured that electoral registration forms have been more widely available than before, in a range of locations including council offices, housing executive offices, social security offices, libraries, jobcentres and citizens' advice bureaux. Forms were also made available on both the Electoral Office and Electoral Commission websites. I also understand that the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland has also been working closely with the Electoral Commission in a combined publicity and outreach programme aimed particularly at young people, including a programme of school and college visits.
	The new register will be published on 1 December. The Government urge all those who have not taken the opportunity to register during the annual canvass period to take the opportunity to register through rolling registration. We will be looking with the Chief Electoral Officer at what additional steps might be taken to encourage people to take up this opportunity.
	However, in the light of the concern about falling numbers registered and the local elections due in Northern Ireland next May, the Government have decided that, if parliamentary time allows, we will legislate before then to allow the Chief Electoral Officer to reinstitute the carry-forward as a temporary measure. This would permit the CEO to reinstate the names of those individuals registered on 1 September 2004 who have not re-registered during this year's canvass so that they reappear on the first monthly register published after the legislation has been enacted.

Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004: Implementation

Lord Rooker: My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have today published a consultation paper on proposed secondary legislation and guidance to implement some of the development control provisions in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. We intend that, after a three-month consultation period and consideration of the responses received, the provisions would come into effect in May 2005.
	We are preparing to implement the development control provisions in Part 4 of the Act in stages. Where the provisions in the Act require secondary legislation we are proposing changes to the general development procedure order. The paper proposes the form and content for economic impact reports for major infrastructure projects. The paper proposes a 21-day period in which statutory consultees must respond to consultation on planning applications. Last year some consultees pointed out the inconsistency between this period and the ability of local planning authorities (LPAs) to determine applications within 14 days. We are now proposing that LPAs should not determine applications until the consultee has responded or after 21 days, whichever is the sooner.
	The consultation includes updated guidance on some of the provisions in the Act for which secondary legislation is not required. The guidance refers to the right of appeal for non-determination of a similar repeat application. We will not be introducing the power to decline to determine overlapping application (twin-tracking) until the performance of local authorities in handling planning applications improves.
	There is revised draft guidance on the duration of permission and consent. The Act reduces the default period for the commencement of a detailed permission from five to three years. The Government have acknowledged that periods longer than three years might be appropriate in some cases. For most major developments, such as complex regeneration projects, outline rather than detailed applications are likely to be the route to permission. The period for approval of reserved matters after outline permission has been granted will normally remain as three years. The guidance makes clear the need for flexibility on the part of local authorities in their dealings with applicants on the duration of permissions and consents.
	There is also draft guidance on consultation with regional planning bodies (RPBs) on certain applications where development would be of major importance for the implementation of the regional spatial strategy or for other types of development on which RPBs specify that they wish to be consulted.

NHS: Frontline Delivery

Lord Warner: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On 22 July at column 61WS, I announced the completion of the review of my department's arm's length bodies (ALBs). I made it clear then that there is considerable scope to improve efficiency and reduce bureaucracy in the ALB sector and I reiterated the following parameters for the review:
	a 50 per cent reduction in the number of ALBs;
	a saving in expenditure by ALBs of £0.5 billion by 2007–08; and
	a reduction in posts of 25 per cent in the same period.
	Detailed discussions have been held with all interested parties about how to implement these changes. We are now publishing the next steps to be taken in implementing the review of the department's arm's length bodies, the conclusions of which were published in July in the report Reconfiguring the Department of Health's Arm's Length Bodies. As well as next steps, Reconfiguring the Department of Health's Arm's Length Bodies Implementation Framework, sets out the principles, processes and timescales by which we will implement the ALB change programme. Copies have been placed in the Library.
	The ALB programme is part of a wider programme of change to improve efficiency and cut bureaucracy in the management of the National Health Service. The objective of all these activities is to reduce the burden on the frontline and free up more resources for the delivery of frontline services to patients and users. This wider programme is to ensure that the increased investment in the NHS—42 per cent in real terms from 2003–04 to 2007–08—is accompanied by modernisation that cuts out waste.
	The ALB change programme itself will deliver a redistribution to the frontline of at least £0.5 billion a year by the end of 2007–08. The number of ALBs will be reduced to 20 from the base year of 2003–04, despite the sector assuming new functions under statutes approved by Parliament. Even with these new functions, which bring new costs, we will be setting the 2005–06 budget for the ALB sector so that it will cost about £100 million a year less to run than in 2003–04. A further £200 million a year will become available for redistribution to the frontline by the end of 2006–07 and again in 2007–08. This will inevitably mean significant changes in the organisation, staffing, financing and governance of the ALB sector. These changes must now be delivered.
	One of the changes in the ALB sector is the establishment of a Health and Social Care Information Centre to co-ordinate and streamline the collection and dissemination of data to those who use them. This will build on the work done by the department in reducing demands for information from the NHS frontline. Since March 2003 the department has reduced the burden of central returns by about 160 person years and this will have risen to 400 person years when we reach April 2005. That means 400 people in the NHS will be freed up for frontline operations through the department reducing and simplifying its statistical collection. Now it is the turn of the inspectorates, strategic health authorities, primary care trusts, royal colleges and others to follow the Department of Health's example by streamlining their statistical collection through the new Health and Social Care Information Centre.
	Cutting overheads is now a key part of any modern business. That is why we expect substantial reductions in the overheads of the ALB sector. By 2007–08 we expect annual savings in overheads of £35 million to £40 million and significant progress towards that made in ALB plans from 2005–06. This will be achieved by merging bodies, sharing back-office services and moving to cheaper locations.
	There is a tendency for all organisations to undergo "mission creep" and add functions. The ALB review is about slimming down the sector to the essentials and to do those essentials more effectively. That is why we are expecting major savings for redistribution to the frontline from those central services in the ALB sector. They will be regrouped into eight key central businesses:
	NHS blood and transplant;
	NHS Litigation Authority;
	Appointments Commission;
	NHS Institute for Learning, Skills and Innovation;
	HSC Information Centre;
	National programme for IT;
	NHS Business Services Authority;
	NHS Purchasing and Supply Authority.
	In 2005–06, we aim to have in place the boards and executive teams to streamline the business processes of this group of businesses and to reduce their overheads. At the same time, we will see a further dividend from the supply chain excellence programme which is already delivering better value for the local NHS by using the purchasing power of the NHS as a whole more effectively.
	In 2005–06, the NHS will benefit from a minimum of £100 million in savings from more efficient procurement led by NHS PASA. By the time we get to 2007–08 we expect that procurement activities led by NHS PASA, together with other supply chain initiatives such as the recently negotiated pharmaceutical price regulation scheme, to be delivering over £800 million savings annually for use by the NHS frontline.
	The Government's Better Regulation Task Force has shown the way forward in reducing the burden of regulation. Linked to this is the need to systematise more effectively the work of inspectors and reduce the burden they impose on the NHS frontline. The Government have already merged some inspectorates. The ALB review will continue this process and build on the work of the new health inspection concordat. This concordat will reduce the number of inspection days in the NHS, cut the information demands, especially through the new Health and Social Care Information Centre, using more self-assessment and providing "inspection holidays" for high-performing organisations. The budgets of the inspection sector will not be allowed to grow in an uncontrolled way, so that the inspection burden can be better contained than in the past. Full cost recovery will be pursued for independent sector inspection to reduce in stages the burden of their costs falling on the NHS.
	Alongside cutting the inspection burden, the Government have abolished the controls assurance standards as a separate set of standards, and reporting to the centre has been stopped. Key elements of the controls assurance standards have been incorporated into the standards for better health which will enable NHS trusts to link assurance on controls directly to NHS objectives. These and other changes announced in the recent Cabinet Office report will cut the NHS burden of collating and reporting information by about 85,000 person days a year, thereby freeing up over 350 staff at the frontline for other work.
	There has been much unfair criticism of the Government's use of targets. Targets have helped to save lives. Cancer mortality rates in the under-75s have fallen by 12 per cent and coronary heart disease mortality rates in the under-75s by over 20 per cent in less than six years. A specialist sees 99 per cent of people with suspected cancer within 14 days—compared with only 63 per cent seven years ago. Targets have reduced waiting times. There are now 300,000 fewer people waiting for in-patient treatment than seven years ago. And their average waiting time then was over 18 months and now it is half this. But the time has now come to reduce the number of national targets from 62 in the last planning round to around 20 for the next three years. And more targets will now be locally determined to reflect local priorities.
	"Local" is where the NHS action is and will continue to be. Eight regional offices and 100 health authorities have been replaced by 28 strategic health authorities. The Department of Health's change programme has reduced the size of the centre by 38 per cent. The ALB review will reduce the staffing of that sector by 25 per cent. But the NHS still needs good managers to run its operations and administrative and clerical staff to support doctors, nurses and other health professionals to do what they are good at—looking after patients.
	All these changes have not led to a growth in NHS management costs. In 2003–04 management costs were 3.7 per cent of net NHS expenditure compared with 4.0 per cent in 1996–97. We will keep those costs under control. The ALB review will help us to do that by ensuring that the local NHS gets efficient, better value for money from central services, a contained regulatory and inspection system and fewer demands made on it from the centre.
	Ministers are determined to secure the changes set out in this framework document within the timescales it proposes. They will be fully supported in that purpose by Sir Nigel Crisp as the accounting officer and his departmental management board, which includes the senior official responsible for seeing through this change management programme successfully.

Government Indemnity Scheme

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Arts (Estelle Morris) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The provision for the government indemnity scheme is made by the National Heritage Act 1980. The scheme facilitates public access to loans of works of art and other objects for public display made to museums, galleries and other such institutions by private owners and non-national institutions. It does this by indemnifying lenders against loss or damage to their loan. Loans covered by the scheme must be for public benefit. The scheme also covers loans of such objects for study purposes within borrowing institutions where this would contribute materially to the public's understanding or appreciation of the loan. Examples of this are enhancing interpretation or explanation to the public of objects or bringing into the public domain the conclusions of any study.
	In the six-month period ended 30 September, the following undertakings to indemnify were given under Section 16 by the relevant departments for objects on loan to national and non-national institutions:
	
		
			  Numbers 
			 Department for Culture, Media and Sport 580 
			 Scottish Executive education department 184 
			 The National Assembly for Wales 139 
		
	
	The value of contingent liabilities in respect of undertakings given at any time under Section 16 and which remained outstanding as at 31 March is:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2,462,963,504 
			 Scottish Executive education department 755,072,231 
			 National Assembly for Wales 64,366,311 
		
	
	The value of non-statutory government indemnities to cover loans handled by the Government Art Collection and which remained outstanding as at 31 March is:
	Value: £5,100,000
	The value of non-statutory undertakings given to Her Majesty in respect of loans from the Royal Collection and which remained outstanding as at 30 September is:
	Value: £162,094,556

Schools Capital

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My honourable friend the Minister for School Standards (Mr David Miliband) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I am today announcing details of the allocation of schools capital over the spending review period, for 2006–07 to 2007–08. Investment in schools is at record levels, and every maintained school and every education authority and diocese in England will benefit from our capital programmes. As well as continued substantial investment in primary schools, we will now drive forward significantly the modernisation of the secondary school estate, further to my Statement of 12 February announcing the first wave of authorities to benefit from the building schools for the future programme.
	My announcement will support the five-year strategy for educational improvement which my right honourable friend the Secretary of State announced in July, and continues and increases the largest sustained programme of capital investment in schools which this country has ever seen. From an inadequate base of under £700 million in 1996–97, government support for capital investment in schools has risen to £4.9 billion this year, will be £5.5 billion next year, £5.8 billion in 2006–07 and will reach £6.3 billion by 2007–08. This is a ninefold increase since this Government came to power. The table at the end of this Written Statement give details of our funding proposals.
	Since this Government came to office, we have provided substantial investment for schools—£20 billion up to this year—so that the vast backlog of neglect and repairs which made many schools virtually uninhabitable has been addressed. We have revised and improved our design and environmental guidelines for schools to reflect the standards-driven needs of 21st century teaching and learning, and to capture the benefits of ICT development. We have increased expectations on environmental quality, diversity and inclusion. We are placing schools at the centre of their communities, offering extended facilities and regaining the position that they held in earlier years, but lost as their buildings decayed.
	We have made very substantial progress in recent years. But much remains to do, to bring all schools up to the standards that we expect for our children. All schools and authorities will benefit from this capital programme, which provides a further £17 billion investment over the next three years.
	Importantly, all schools will continue to get their own direct capital to improve their buildings. This will rise from £800 million in 2005–06 to over £1 billion in 2007–08, when the typical primary school will get over £34,000 and a typical secondary £113,000. This programme will, from 2006–07, include schools' direct funding for improving their ICT equipment, part of the £1.1 billion of ICT investment in 2006–07 and 2007–08. We will also continue to provide authorities with needs-related funding for their local priorities; £2.2 billion will be allocated by formulae to authorities across 2006–07 and 2007–08 from the modernisation, basic need and schools access initiative programmes. From this announcement, authorities will have three-year certainty on the bulk of their capital funding, and it will as usual be delivered through the single capital pot to enable authorities to plan flexibly to meet their schools' needs.
	To ensure that there is flexibility within the overall programme, we aim to increase the funding available to the targeted capital fund, to £500 million a year by 2007–08. This will ensure that we can support authorities which have exceptional capital needs, including exceptional pupil growth through the basic need safety valve. An equitable share of the capital settlement of over £900 million will also be provided for the needs of schools in the voluntary-aided sector in these years.
	I am announcing today allocations from the targeted capital fund for 2005–06, of £233 million for a total of 51 local authority projects and 20 projects in voluntary-aided schools. These cover a wide range of projects, including accommodation for pupils with special needs, sports facilities, extended schools facilities, modernisation of teaching accommodation, replacement of primary school buildings, and two new voluntary-aided schools—one Jewish and one Islamic. I am providing a further £12 million of additional basic need funding where there is exceptional growth in pupil numbers in Haringey, Cambridge, Thurrock, and Milton Keynes.
	I am also announcing today the 20 new authorities which will be included in the second and third waves of building schools for the future (BSF), which aims to renew every secondary school in the country. The geographical areas, including 230 schools in total, have been prioritised according to relative educational and social need, as measured by pupils' GCSE attainment and eligibility for free school meals; and the planning and financial requirements of the programme. These allocations bring the total number of authorities included in the programme by 2007–08 to 39—over a quarter of all authorities.
	As we made clear in the five-year strategy for children and learners published in July, BSF plans will be assessed according to rigorous school improvement criteria and funding will not be released until the Government and local people are satisfied that they meet the full potential for transforming standards. This includes considering academies and other options for new schools in their plans. As we said in the five-year strategy, the Government will not stand by and allow local authorities to sustain failure by refusing to engage with academies where they can meet parental demand for good school places. This policy is already being applied to wave one authorities, where most BSF plans are yet to be approved, and will be applied to all the further waves being announced today.
	Further, I am announcing our ambition that, by 2011, all local authorities will either have a major secondary rebuilding project under way through BSF, with at least three of their secondary schools included, or else have the resources to rebuild at least one of their secondary schools in greatest need through the academies programme and the targeted capital fund. By 2016, major rebuilding and remodelling will have started in every local authority in line with BSF plans developed by them. Final allocations for wave four onwards of BSF are of course subject to future public spending decisions and will be confirmed in future spending reviews.
	I am allocating over £830 million funding in 2006–07 and 2007–08 to support the development of additional academies to work to our target of having 200 open or in procurement by 2010. 1 am also providing a further £70 million to reach our target of universal specialism in secondary schools by the end of the period.
	My officials will give all authorities an indication of when they may expect to start in the BSF programme so that they can plan confidently and use their other funding efficiently before they get this major investment. We will work with every authority to see how these commitments and their own financial flexibilities through delegated funding and prudential borrowing can be combined to deliver maximum early progress on BSF.
	We have decided to allocate schools capital to a new joined-up budget for 16-to-19 provision in schools and colleges. The Learning and Skills Council will also contribute to the combined pot, which it will administer, worth in total £120 million in 2006–07 and £180 million in 2007–08.
	Schools which have robust sustainable travel plans put in place will be able to access a further £40 million of devolved formula capital over the period.
	I am providing all honourable Members with detailed information on all of today's allocations which affect the local authorities in their constituencies.
	Table: Schools capital funding from 2005–06 until 2007–08 (figures in £ million)
	
		
			  2005–06 2006–07 2007–08  
			 Schools devolved   funding 805 1,000 1,050  
			 LEA delegated funding:   modernisation 602 602 602 Note 1 
			 LEA delegated funding:   basic need 590 400 400 Note 2 
			 Schools access initiative 84 84 84 Note 3 
			 BSF programme 2,118 2,177 2,240 Note 4 
			 Academies 207 365 467  
			 Other ICT 459 249 284 Note 5 
			 VA schools 352 444 473  
			 Specialist schools 56 35 35  
			 LSC 16–19 budget   contribution 0 70 100  
			 Targeted capital fund 200 300 500  
			 Sustainable transport 20 20 20  
			 Other programmes 22 9 10  
			 Total 5,515 5,755 6,265  
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Modernisation is allocated on pupil numbers and relative building need from survey data
	2. Basic need is allocated on pupil numbers and projected pupil growth
	3. Schools access initiative is allocated on pupil numbers
	4. Includes £l.2 billion/£1.25 billion/£13 billion of PFI credits
	5. 2006–07 and 2007–08 figures exclude ICT capital delivered directly to schools as devolved funding.

British Energy plc

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Government have agreed to a request from British Energy plc to extend the long stop date for completion of the company's restructuring plan beyond 31 January 2005.
	In granting this extension, the Government considered their overarching objectives of nuclear safety, security of electricity supplies and value for money for the taxpayer and consulted with the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. The Government continue to believe that the company's restructuring plan is the best means of ensuring these objectives. Therefore, in the light of the intermediate milestones set out in British Energy's announcement of 30 November 2004, the Government have agreed, subject to two conditions, to extend the long stop date in the government restructuring agreement for a period of three months until 30 April 2005.
	In the context of meeting their overarching objectives at this time, the Government believe that continuity and stability in the management of British Energy's business in the immediate future is desirable. We have also sought and received assurances from British Energy's management that any measures taken to manage the group's working capital will not adversely affect safety or security of supply. The extension is therefore subject to conditions relating to those two issues.
	As I have said previously, contingency plans remain in place to ensure safety and security of supply if the restructuring plan fails for any reason and British Energy decides administration is the only option.

Air Depth Support

Lord Bach: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence (Mr Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Following the announcement on the 16 September of my preferred option for future military aircraft support and the end of the trade unions' consultation period, I am announcing my decision to implement the preferred option.
	This will mean that the support for the Tornado GR4 aircraft will be concentrated forward to the main operating base (MOB) at RAF Marham; with the work on Tornado F3 aircraft remaining "as is" with support being carried out at both the MOB and DARA St Athan until the aircraft's out-of-service date. Depth support for Lynx, Chinook and Sea King will be concentrated backwards to DARA Fleetlands.
	This decision is based on comprehensive analysis which was carried out on an objective and impartial basis, and offers the best outcome for defence in terms of operational effectiveness and value for money. It does, however, have implications for our military and civilian workforce, as well as for our partners in industry who undertake depth support of military aircraft.
	At the time of the announcement, it was made clear that the Ministry of Defence would explore with other government departments, including the Welsh Assembly and the Wales Office, alternative options for the viable and economic use of St Athan after 2009, based on its transformation into an aerospace centre of excellence. Officials from my department, along with DARA senior management, have already had meetings with Welsh Assembly and Wales Office staff to explore possible options, and have agreed a strategic approach for taking this forward as a matter of urgency.
	Implementation of the decision will be taken forward by the Chief of Defence Logistics—as the process owner for defence logistics—and responsible for the programme to deliver the changes to air depth support. Detailed consultation with the trade unions on the implementation of the decision will be taken forward.